{"id":1330,"date":"2011-03-21T07:44:48","date_gmt":"2011-03-21T14:44:48","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/theagingofaquarius.com\/ag_blog\/?p=1330"},"modified":"2023-07-07T09:46:37","modified_gmt":"2023-07-07T16:46:37","slug":"quit-picking-on-starbucks","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/theagingofaquarius.com\/ag_blog\/quit-picking-on-starbucks\/","title":{"rendered":"Coffee Culture"},"content":{"rendered":"

 <\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

I like the concept of a coffee culture. Caffeine is my vice of choice and Starbucks is most often the place where I imbibe.\u00a0 We have a couple of small, family-run restaurants left, but we didn’t really have a meet-me-for-coffee place until Starbucks built several.<\/p>\n

Of the four Starbucks locations close to me, one is so popular that my only complaint is it’s tough to find a seat. I love the idea of being comfortable hanging around with your latte for as long as you want, until the concept means I can’t find a table. One location in my small town has become a satellite office, with every surface covered with laptops, simultaneous cell phone conversations, and meetings large enough to occupy several tables pushed together.<\/p>\n

So now I avoid peak times. Early mornings and mid-afternoons are best. That’s when my favorite Starbucks resembles exactly the kind of coffee-shop-as-small-town-microcosm their critics claim they eroded. At one of the long wooden tables there’s a moms’ group with strollers tucked into a nearby corner. Another couple of tables hosts knitters. Knitters who chat. Very early in the morning, a phalanx of uniformed peace officers waits to order. Arriving mid-afternoon, with walkers and canes, here come the rabble-rousing residents of the senior community across the road.<\/p>\n

There’s moaning about Starbucks being such a chain operation. I’m personally comforted by the consistency of their look and feel, the clean restrooms, and even the music they play. Critics scoff at the “pretension” of their coffee language – completely made up to impart the aura of a never-did-exist European coffee experience. Clever marketing, I say.<\/p>\n

But I’m not objective, because I have a small entrepreneurial crush on Howard Schultz, who put a group together to buy out the originators of the Starbucks brand in Seattle and personally became involved (some say too<\/em> involved) in every aspect of every cup of coffee sold. Everything about the building of the company interests me, its ups and downs and adjustments, and Schultz’ buck-stops-here recent comeback after closing many stores.<\/p>\n

If you have a welcoming, independent local coffee shop that serves all your needs, you’re lucky, and I will never demean the efficiency of a roadside McDonald’s for coffee and a baked apple pie, but for everyday caffeine ingestion in pleasant circumstances, Starbucks is just fine.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

  I like the concept of a coffee culture. Caffeine is my vice of choice and Starbucks is most often the place where I imbibe.\u00a0 We have a couple of small, family-run restaurants left, but we didn’t really have a meet-me-for-coffee place until Starbucks built several. Of the four Starbucks locations close to me, one … Continue reading “Coffee Culture”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[1],"tags":[1968,937,17],"class_list":["post-1330","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-coffee-culture","tag-coffee-shop","tag-starbucks"],"yoast_head":"\nCoffee Culture – Anita Garner | The Aging of Aquarius<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/theagingofaquarius.com\/ag_blog\/quit-picking-on-starbucks\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Coffee Culture – Anita Garner | The Aging of Aquarius\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"  I like the concept of a coffee culture. Caffeine is my vice of choice and Starbucks is most often the place where I imbibe.\u00a0 We have a couple of small, family-run restaurants left, but we didn’t really have a meet-me-for-coffee place until Starbucks built several. Of the four Starbucks locations close to me, one … Continue reading "Coffee Culture"\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/theagingofaquarius.com\/ag_blog\/quit-picking-on-starbucks\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Anita Garner | The Aging of Aquarius\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2011-03-21T14:44:48+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2023-07-07T16:46:37+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/theagingofaquarius.com\/ag_blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/03\/DESKTOP-AUTUMN-DELIGHTS-WINDOW-240x300.jpg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Anita Garner\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Anita Garner\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/theagingofaquarius.com\\\/ag_blog\\\/quit-picking-on-starbucks\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/theagingofaquarius.com\\\/ag_blog\\\/quit-picking-on-starbucks\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Anita Garner\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/theagingofaquarius.com\\\/ag_blog\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/22aab34139ab8dc23d3beb537d548b34\"},\"headline\":\"Coffee Culture\",\"datePublished\":\"2011-03-21T14:44:48+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2023-07-07T16:46:37+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/theagingofaquarius.com\\\/ag_blog\\\/quit-picking-on-starbucks\\\/\"},\"wordCount\":399,\"commentCount\":7,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/theagingofaquarius.com\\\/ag_blog\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/22aab34139ab8dc23d3beb537d548b34\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/theagingofaquarius.com\\\/ag_blog\\\/quit-picking-on-starbucks\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/theagingofaquarius.com\\\/ag_blog\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2011\\\/03\\\/DESKTOP-AUTUMN-DELIGHTS-WINDOW-240x300.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"coffee culture\",\"coffee shop\",\"Starbucks\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/theagingofaquarius.com\\\/ag_blog\\\/quit-picking-on-starbucks\\\/#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/theagingofaquarius.com\\\/ag_blog\\\/quit-picking-on-starbucks\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/theagingofaquarius.com\\\/ag_blog\\\/quit-picking-on-starbucks\\\/\",\"name\":\"Coffee Culture – Anita Garner | The Aging of Aquarius\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/theagingofaquarius.com\\\/ag_blog\\\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/theagingofaquarius.com\\\/ag_blog\\\/quit-picking-on-starbucks\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/theagingofaquarius.com\\\/ag_blog\\\/quit-picking-on-starbucks\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/theagingofaquarius.com\\\/ag_blog\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2011\\\/03\\\/DESKTOP-AUTUMN-DELIGHTS-WINDOW-240x300.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2011-03-21T14:44:48+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2023-07-07T16:46:37+00:00\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/theagingofaquarius.com\\\/ag_blog\\\/quit-picking-on-starbucks\\\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/theagingofaquarius.com\\\/ag_blog\\\/quit-picking-on-starbucks\\\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/theagingofaquarius.com\\\/ag_blog\\\/quit-picking-on-starbucks\\\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/i0.wp.com\\\/theagingofaquarius.com\\\/ag_blog\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2011\\\/03\\\/DESKTOP-AUTUMN-DELIGHTS-WINDOW.jpg?fit=513%2C641&ssl=1\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/i0.wp.com\\\/theagingofaquarius.com\\\/ag_blog\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2011\\\/03\\\/DESKTOP-AUTUMN-DELIGHTS-WINDOW.jpg?fit=513%2C641&ssl=1\",\"width\":513,\"height\":641,\"caption\":\"??????????\"},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/theagingofaquarius.com\\\/ag_blog\\\/quit-picking-on-starbucks\\\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\\\/\\\/theagingofaquarius.com\\\/ag_blog\\\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Coffee Culture\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/theagingofaquarius.com\\\/ag_blog\\\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/theagingofaquarius.com\\\/ag_blog\\\/\",\"name\":\"Anita Garner | The Aging of Aquarius\",\"description\":\"Anita Garner's journey from rock and roll disc jockey to grandmother.. what's next?\",\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/theagingofaquarius.com\\\/ag_blog\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/22aab34139ab8dc23d3beb537d548b34\"},\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\\\/\\\/theagingofaquarius.com\\\/ag_blog\\\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":[\"Person\",\"Organization\"],\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/theagingofaquarius.com\\\/ag_blog\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/22aab34139ab8dc23d3beb537d548b34\",\"name\":\"Anita Garner\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/9313aa2104a2ff9ad13f07ce514730e89a8e20fb7a82a25667edabcfb062713b?s=96&d=blank&r=g\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/9313aa2104a2ff9ad13f07ce514730e89a8e20fb7a82a25667edabcfb062713b?s=96&d=blank&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/9313aa2104a2ff9ad13f07ce514730e89a8e20fb7a82a25667edabcfb062713b?s=96&d=blank&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Anita Garner\"},\"logo\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/9313aa2104a2ff9ad13f07ce514730e89a8e20fb7a82a25667edabcfb062713b?s=96&d=blank&r=g\"}}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Coffee Culture – Anita Garner | The Aging of Aquarius","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/theagingofaquarius.com\/ag_blog\/quit-picking-on-starbucks\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Coffee Culture – Anita Garner | The Aging of Aquarius","og_description":"  I like the concept of a coffee culture. Caffeine is my vice of choice and Starbucks is most often the place where I imbibe.\u00a0 We have a couple of small, family-run restaurants left, but we didn’t really have a meet-me-for-coffee place until Starbucks built several. Of the four Starbucks locations close to me, one … Continue reading \"Coffee Culture\"","og_url":"https:\/\/theagingofaquarius.com\/ag_blog\/quit-picking-on-starbucks\/","og_site_name":"Anita Garner | The Aging of Aquarius","article_published_time":"2011-03-21T14:44:48+00:00","article_modified_time":"2023-07-07T16:46:37+00:00","og_image":[{"url":"https:\/\/theagingofaquarius.com\/ag_blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/03\/DESKTOP-AUTUMN-DELIGHTS-WINDOW-240x300.jpg","type":"","width":"","height":""}],"author":"Anita Garner","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Anita Garner","Est. reading time":"2 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/theagingofaquarius.com\/ag_blog\/quit-picking-on-starbucks\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/theagingofaquarius.com\/ag_blog\/quit-picking-on-starbucks\/"},"author":{"name":"Anita Garner","@id":"https:\/\/theagingofaquarius.com\/ag_blog\/#\/schema\/person\/22aab34139ab8dc23d3beb537d548b34"},"headline":"Coffee Culture","datePublished":"2011-03-21T14:44:48+00:00","dateModified":"2023-07-07T16:46:37+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/theagingofaquarius.com\/ag_blog\/quit-picking-on-starbucks\/"},"wordCount":399,"commentCount":7,"publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/theagingofaquarius.com\/ag_blog\/#\/schema\/person\/22aab34139ab8dc23d3beb537d548b34"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/theagingofaquarius.com\/ag_blog\/quit-picking-on-starbucks\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/theagingofaquarius.com\/ag_blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/03\/DESKTOP-AUTUMN-DELIGHTS-WINDOW-240x300.jpg","keywords":["coffee culture","coffee shop","Starbucks"],"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/theagingofaquarius.com\/ag_blog\/quit-picking-on-starbucks\/#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/theagingofaquarius.com\/ag_blog\/quit-picking-on-starbucks\/","url":"https:\/\/theagingofaquarius.com\/ag_blog\/quit-picking-on-starbucks\/","name":"Coffee Culture – Anita Garner | The Aging of Aquarius","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/theagingofaquarius.com\/ag_blog\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/theagingofaquarius.com\/ag_blog\/quit-picking-on-starbucks\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/theagingofaquarius.com\/ag_blog\/quit-picking-on-starbucks\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/theagingofaquarius.com\/ag_blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/03\/DESKTOP-AUTUMN-DELIGHTS-WINDOW-240x300.jpg","datePublished":"2011-03-21T14:44:48+00:00","dateModified":"2023-07-07T16:46:37+00:00","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/theagingofaquarius.com\/ag_blog\/quit-picking-on-starbucks\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/theagingofaquarius.com\/ag_blog\/quit-picking-on-starbucks\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/theagingofaquarius.com\/ag_blog\/quit-picking-on-starbucks\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/theagingofaquarius.com\/ag_blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/03\/DESKTOP-AUTUMN-DELIGHTS-WINDOW.jpg?fit=513%2C641&ssl=1","contentUrl":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/theagingofaquarius.com\/ag_blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/03\/DESKTOP-AUTUMN-DELIGHTS-WINDOW.jpg?fit=513%2C641&ssl=1","width":513,"height":641,"caption":"??????????"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/theagingofaquarius.com\/ag_blog\/quit-picking-on-starbucks\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/theagingofaquarius.com\/ag_blog\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Coffee Culture"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/theagingofaquarius.com\/ag_blog\/#website","url":"https:\/\/theagingofaquarius.com\/ag_blog\/","name":"Anita Garner | The Aging of Aquarius","description":"Anita Garner's journey from rock and roll disc jockey to grandmother.. what's next?","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/theagingofaquarius.com\/ag_blog\/#\/schema\/person\/22aab34139ab8dc23d3beb537d548b34"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/theagingofaquarius.com\/ag_blog\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":["Person","Organization"],"@id":"https:\/\/theagingofaquarius.com\/ag_blog\/#\/schema\/person\/22aab34139ab8dc23d3beb537d548b34","name":"Anita Garner","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/9313aa2104a2ff9ad13f07ce514730e89a8e20fb7a82a25667edabcfb062713b?s=96&d=blank&r=g","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/9313aa2104a2ff9ad13f07ce514730e89a8e20fb7a82a25667edabcfb062713b?s=96&d=blank&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/9313aa2104a2ff9ad13f07ce514730e89a8e20fb7a82a25667edabcfb062713b?s=96&d=blank&r=g","caption":"Anita Garner"},"logo":{"@id":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/9313aa2104a2ff9ad13f07ce514730e89a8e20fb7a82a25667edabcfb062713b?s=96&d=blank&r=g"}}]}},"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p7bq0a-ls","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/theagingofaquarius.com\/ag_blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1330","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/theagingofaquarius.com\/ag_blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/theagingofaquarius.com\/ag_blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theagingofaquarius.com\/ag_blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theagingofaquarius.com\/ag_blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1330"}],"version-history":[{"count":12,"href":"https:\/\/theagingofaquarius.com\/ag_blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1330\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6456,"href":"https:\/\/theagingofaquarius.com\/ag_blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1330\/revisions\/6456"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/theagingofaquarius.com\/ag_blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1330"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theagingofaquarius.com\/ag_blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1330"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theagingofaquarius.com\/ag_blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1330"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}